This is the press release that was sent to the Evening Echo and published on Friday along with a photograph of Sally presenting Gemma with her prize camera.

Local photographer reaches final

Essexbased wedding photographer, Sally Claydon has been named as one of only five finalists in a prestigious national photography awards.

The 2009 Kodak Wedding and Portrait Awards is run by The Master Photographers Association (MPA), the UK’s only organisation for full-time, qualified photographers and Kodak Professional. The Awards attracted entries from the cream of Britain’s professional photographers, so to reach the final is a huge accolade for Sally.

One purpose of the Awards is to raise money for the PACE Centre in Aylesbury (www.thepacecentre.org), PACE is the MPA’s chosen charity and does invaluable work with children with physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy. Each entry carried a £1 charge, with all the fees being donated to PACE.

The subject of Sally’sstunning image wins a Kodak digital camera and will be hoping shecan go all the way – they stand to pick up a cool £1,000 if Sally is named the overall winner at the glittering Master Photography Awards ceremony, which is held in Newcastle in October.

Says Colin Buck, MPA chief executive, “Sally has done extremely well to reach this stage of such a high profile Award. The competition was very tough and to reach the final is a real honour. I’m sure Sally will be looking forward to October to see if sheis crowned the overall winner.”